The holiday season is here! Before you start getting wrapped up in eggnog and your annual holiday party; it’s time to get a few things in order for 2018. If you want to start the new year right, you need to tighten a few things up now. What do you need to make happen in the new year? New employees? A new line-of-credit? Launch a new book? Will you change your content strategy? If it’s not your peak season, start working on a few tasks while the rest of the world is slowing down for the holidays. Here are 10 key tasks to do in your business before 2018.
Tweak Your Sales Strategy: What is the sales strategy for your business in 2018? Will you increase pricing or bundle your main offering? How will you generate and qualify leads? Will you hire an additional sales person this year? Do you have any upsells for your existing customers? Start the new year with your sales pipeline ready to go. Put together a budget that will help you plan for what’s needed to implement the new sales strategy.
Develop a Sales Funnel: You need your website to work harder for you. Create a new sales funnel to capture email addresses and nurture prospects to earn a sale. Invest in clickfunnels.com or a professional copy writer to help you develop the email series. Leverage email marketing tools like Infusionsoft, Aweber or MailChimp, to set up a an auto responder email series that goes out automatically after someone downloads a free offer from your website.
Update Your Website: Most people are looking at your website from a mobile device. Make sure your website is simple and engaging on mobile as a priority. Look at your navigation and load speed? Are your calls to action simple and obvious? You might not need to do a complete overhaul, but mobile is really important so make sure your website speaks to mobile visitors. Don't forget to look at your Google Analytics to see which social media accounts are generating the most referral traffic.
invest in Online Ads?: Paid ads are now a necessity. Consider options including Retargeting, Google AdWords Express, Facebook Ads, Mobile SEO, and Mobile ads. Always test your campaigns first, then invest in a longer campaign. Facebook allows you target ads to your existing email list and/or website visitors. If you are not sure how to begin, hire someone to help you.
Enhance Your Social Media Strategy: Are your social media referrals flat? Might be time to move on to a new platform. Consider launching a podcast or spending more time on Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat. Video converts well, so figure out how to leverage it. You can't do everything so choose one thing to add to your social media mix, and stop doing something else.
Call Your Key Customers: How often do you call your customers? Ever heard of friend-raising, it’s good to have casual conversations with your customers. It’s good to keep track of people too. When people switch positions they might take you with them to the new company, so keep in touch. Reach out to at least 5 current and former customers a day for the next two weeks.
Create a Promotional Calendar: Map out what promotions you’ll be running in 2018. What month will you launch your new product? Do you have any annual events or promotions with tie-ins to national holidays like ““March Madness”, Fourth of July,” or “Thanksgiving”? Start planning your marketing promotions now, so your team won’t feel rushed to get ready for the latest marketing initiative.
Develop a Sales Funnel: You need your website to work harder for you. Create a new sales funnel to capture email addresses and nurture prospects to earn a sale. Invest in clickfunnels.com or a professional copy writer to help you develop the email series. Leverage email marketing tools like Infusionsoft, Aweber or MailChimp, to set up a an auto responder email series that goes out automatically after someone downloads a free offer from your website.
End of the Year Review: What were your revenues compared with last year? Is your profitability up? What was your most shared content and keywords? Who are your best customers? Any chance for upsells? What was your close ratio on new business opportunities? How many revenue streams does your business have? Do you need to realign your staff? Create a list of accomplishments for the year and opportunities to improve. This will help you to think about what you can do better to grow your small business in 2018.
Schedule a Retreat: Use a team retreat to set up your sales game plan for the year. Set annual sales goals, and identify key targets to pursue for business. Use the time with your team to make decisions about your business for the coming year. Book the retreat now, people need to make travel plans and you need to hire a facilitator or assign an in house resource to organize the agenda and activities. Investing in team building and professional development can start your year off right.
This article was originally published as 10 Things To Do in Your Small Business Before 2018 on www.succeedasyourownboss.com